Murphys Creek Theatre’s latest production, a world premiere staging of a pithy, passionate play is as thought stirring as it is entertaining and altogether worth watching.
A substantial, well-crafted work with a powerful storyline and strong cast of well-defined characters, “Mrs. Whitman’s Words for Women,” the winner of MCT’s annual Quill to Act New Play Festival, was written by Chicago playwright Shayne Kennedy, whose plays have previously been staged there and across the Midwest.
It is set at the University of Michigan in 1918 when the First World War was winding down and women had just won the right to vote. The three lead characters are Grace, Ida and Lillian, all incoming freshman dorm-mates of the campus’s residential hall reserved for “society” women.
Grace, played by Chicago-based actor Grania McKirdie, is a spunky, straight A farm girl who, despite being sent to the university by a family scheming to marry her off within a semester’s time, aspires to graduate with honors and become a traveling veterinarian. The role of her colorful, completely unconventional roommate, Ida, is played by Isadora Zucker, a recent Skidmore College theatre graduate. Intent on getting a specialized engineering degree to help her run a factory owned by a wealthy “aunt,” Ida is a free spirited firebrand on a mission to support women’s rights and their ability to have autonomy over their own lives.
Next door, in a single room arranged by her family is sweet, shy Lillian, played by Bay Area-based performer-writer Dale Tanner, also a recent theatre graduate from UC Berkeley. Quietly grieving and initially shy, she years for connection and is full of unexpected talents and resources. Among the latter is a newly invented hand-cranking mimeograph machine that comes in handy after the three hatch a plan to publish “Mrs. Whitman’s Words for Women,” an empowering educational outreach flyer with simple information in it on birth control, even though such information is considered “illegal.”
Rounding out the cast of characters is Grace’s brother Roy, Noah Thompson, last seen at MCT in “Speed the Plow,” an upperclassman living nearby off-campus with his childhood sweetheart wife Alice, who is expecting their first child. Natalie Bordwell, a recent Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts graduate plays this role and makes a brief cameo at the end as another character named Harriet.
The ensemble cast and social cause-related story is a bit reminiscent of Lousa May Alcott’s “Little Women,” in that the characters are all fully formed and highly relatable as they learn and grow as they go.
MCT Executive Director Jody Vaccaro recalled when the play won the Quill to Act New Play Festival last fall, earning Kennedy the prize of a MCT world-premiere staging of it, the talkback about it was passionate and that now, a year later, the play seems even more urgent with world events and social activism on the rise. As the three main characters settle into college life and forge a powerful friendship, the audience bears witness to how as Vaccaro puts it they must wrestle with who they want to be, what futures they will claim, and how to push back against expectations.
Vaccaro commented, “Their voices echo across generations, reminding us that we all face crossroads—whether in friendship, career, family, or simply asking, ‘Who says I want to fit?’ The way we encourage one another to determine our own path, every single day, matters.
“Progress is rarely a straight line—one step forward, sometimes two back, then forward again,” she continued. “This play celebrates courage, connection, and the power of standing together when the world tells you to sit down. That’s how change becomes possible.”
“Mrs. Whitman’s Words for Women” plays through October 19 with Friday and Saturday evening performances at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are sold under a “pay what you can” program. The show is recommended for ages 13+ as it includes candid discussions of women’s rights, reproductive freedom, and birth control; there is very mild language; no nudity, sexual activity, or violence.
Staged readings for the three play finalists in this year’s Quill to Act New Play Festival are also going on this month, allowing audiences to weigh in on which play they think should be the 2025 winner, which will be staged next fall. The readings are scheduled as follows: “Sergei & Tasha,” October 1; “Options,” October 8, and “Spirit Song,” October 15. For more details and to purchase tickets, visit murphyscreektheatre.org.
